Alyssa-Jaylene Adato

Adorning Time

Kintsugi is the Japanese art of adorning broken ceramics with a lacquer mixed with powdered gold, it’s a tradition that highlights imperfections rather than hiding them. This not only teaches calm when a cherished piece of pottery breaks; it is a reminder of the beauty of human fragility as well. The lantern symbolizes spiritual illumination, enlightenment and future success. As a philosophy, it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, which can also encompass the concepts of non-attachment, acceptance of change and fate as aspects of human life. Even as you mature, these natural unintentional cracks don’t make you meaningless or any less beautiful, it’s lighting the way to understand change.